


for you

by enamuko



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/F, but it's pretty gay ngl, this could be gen if you squinted really hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 12:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6328552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enamuko/pseuds/enamuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beruka will do whatever it takes to complete her mission. Camilla is less than pleased by this world view, but has her own way of returning the favour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	for you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peachperson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachperson/gifts).



> Yet another thing for peachperson/millionsknive/dusktactician, who continues to be lovely. <3

"Would you care to explain how _this_ happened?"

Beruka could tell Camilla was displeased just by the sound of her voice, without having to see what would no doubt be a disapproving frown on her face. At first she had found her new employer hard to read, if only because Camilla could be quite indirect at times, but over time it had become rather simple.

"I was simply carrying out the mission you gave me," Beruka replied, turning her head only slightly so as to not disturb the healer who was taking care of her wounds. "Unfortunately I made a careless mistake and was caught by one of the target's associates. It won't happen again."

Camilla huffed, dropping herself into a chair next to the recovery bed. "See that it doesn't."

The healer lifted Beruka's arm so he could bandage it—a healing staff could only do so much, after all—and she forced herself not to flinch at the sudden pain. Showing weakness like that in front of Lady Camilla was unacceptable.

"I'm sorry my performance displeased you—"

"Your _performance_?" Camilla leaned forward to glare at her, an effect slightly diminished by what she could only describe as a pout. "That's not what I'm concerned about. Selena had to carry you back over her shoulder! Do you have any idea how worried I was?" She was out of her chair now and hovering over both Beruka and the healer. "Shoo, shoo. I can take this from here."

"M-milady.." The healer stammered, but quickly jumped away from his patient to let her do as she pleased.

Camilla took the bandages and started wrapping the plentiful small injuries on her arm that Beruka had to resist flinching at each time. Thankfully she had plenty of practice. Showing weakness, in her mind, was _never_ acceptable practice.

"You can leave us now," Camilla assured the healer. "I'll call for you when we're finished here."

"O-of course." He bowed stiffly to the eldest Nohrian princess and all but ran out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"Remember what I told you once?" Camilla was much more gentle in wrapping her bindings than the healer had been, though Beruka had no doubt that would change if she felt the need to make her displeasure in the situation even _more_ clear. "You're far too precious to me for me to let you throw away your life on such trivial matters. If that means I have to order you to stay by my side rather than sending you on missions, then rest assured I won't hesitate to do that."

"L-lady Camilla.." Beruka tensed, then sighed. "Rest assured, it was just a fluke. You've ordered me not to put myself in unnecessary danger, and I will follow your orders to the letter. I was just caught off guard this time. It won't happen again, milady."

Camilla chuckled as she finished carefully binding Beruka's arm. "And see to it that it doesn't, darling."

 

* * *

 

Through a haze of incoherence, Beruka heard the very distinct sound of Lady Camilla's sigh and felt the damp warmth of a cloth being dabbed against her forehead.

"Oh, Beruka.. what am I going to do with you?" Though Camilla's voice was most certainly muffled, Beruka could understand her clearly enough. When she cracked an eye open she was hardly surprised to see her purple haired mistress leaning over her, gently wiping sweat from her brow.

"Lady Camilla.." Her voice was hoarse and strained, and though she managed a few errant twitches, Beruka could tell that moving her body was unlikely to happen any time soon.

"Hush, darling." While still wiping her forehead, Camilla's other hand began gently stroking her hair in what she assumed was meant to be a comforting gesture. "I would rather you not waste your energy with platitudes. You did take quite the gory hit for me, after all."

"But you're alright..?" That was the important part, after all.

"More than alright. You, however, are not. Not only did you take an arrow to the chest, but a poisoned one at that." Camilla sighed again and set the wet cloth aside, carefully tucking Beruka in. Though her vision was blurry and taking in her surroundings was a difficult task at best, the assassin could tell she wasn't in the recovery room, nor was she in her own quarters. The lavish decoration and comfortable bed could only mean one thing: she was in the royal quarters, specifically Lady Camilla's room. "And here I thought my words had really gotten through to you."

"You only told me not to put my life on the line for the sake of completing my missions," Beruka replied bluntly. Even looking at Camilla directly, she was little more than a blur of black, rosy peach, and lilac. It must have been a particularly unpleasant poison she had been hit with—and she knew unpleasant poisons. She used them often enough herself, after all. "You said nothing about risking _my_ life to save _yours_. That's the duty of a retainer, is it not? To keep their liege safe?"

"A technicality, darling. You know that losing you would ruin me regardless of how it happened," Camilla replied sternly, tucking another pillow in behind Beruka's head. "Here, try to drink some of this. Getting dehydrated is hardly going to help you."

Something cold was held up to her lips as Camilla helped her to lift her head, and Beruka obediently drank what she was offered. The cold water helped to soothe her sore throat and she started sucking it back greedily, until she started choking slightly from drinking too fast. Camilla clicked her tongue and started to massage her back to clear her airways.

"Now, are you going to listen to me and stop risking your neck all the time?" her liege asked in a honey-sweet voice.

"I'm afraid I can't," Beruka replied simply, once her airways were clear.

"Not even if I order it?" Camilla sounded almost smug, as though she had caught Beruka in a technicality.

"Not even then."

"Hmph. I thought you said you would always follow my orders to the letter?" Beruka couldn't see Camilla frowning, but she didn't need to. It was clear enough in her tone.

"There are some things which are more important than following orders." It almost pained her to say it, although that might have just been the soreness all over her body as it tried to recover from the poison. "You're the only person I've met who accepts me fully for who I am without seeing me as a tool. Not only is it my duty to protect you as your retainer, I must also do so because you're someone very important to me."

She settled back into the comfortable, plentiful pillows. If she hadn't been so loopy thanks to the poison she surely wouldn't have shared something like that so readily, but as it was she simply didn't see a reason to keep such things from Camilla. Surely her employer had a reason to know why she had already disobeyed her orders once, and would no doubt do so again.

"Oh, Beruka.." The warm wash cloth was back at her forehead, gently wiping more sweat from her brow. "I wish more people could see you for the sweet woman you really are." She chuckled, but Beruka could swear she heard something that might have been a sniffle as well. Then again, her perception wasn't quite up to par.. "Now, rest here. Selena is going to keep an eye on you for a while, but I'll be back soon, darling."

Beruka could already feel herself being lulled back to sleep as Camilla was speaking, no doubt her body's way of reacting to the poison and helping her to heal faster, but the last thing she felt before sleep reclaimed her was Camilla pressing a kiss to her forehead.

 

* * *

 

Beruka was utterly silent as she carefully cleaned the area around Camilla's wound, making sure to get every bit of dried blood and detritus she possibly could. It was surely something the healer on duty could have been dealing with, but Beruka felt an obligation to take care of it—it _had_ been her fault that the injury had happened in the first place, after all.

"Beruka, darling, no need to look so sullen." As usual Camilla was perfectly cheery and content, in spite of the fact that she had an open wound in her shoulder. At the very least it was a clean, shallow cut; had it been any worse, Beruka was sure she wouldn't have been able to forgive herself. "A little smile from you would make me feel worlds better, I'm sure."

"Why did you let yourself be attacked for my sake?"

Beruka simply didn't have the patience this time to humour her liege; her annoyance at the situation was too great, though she was sure no one else would have been able to tell. Camilla frowned, letting out a small noise of discontent.

"It would have hardly been kind of me to just stand by and let you get hurt, would it?" she asked, lifting her arm as Beruka directed so she could redress the wound. "Particularly not when I was fully capable of doing something about it."

"That 'something' was taking the attack yourself," Beruka replied as she carefully reapplied the gauze and taped it back into place. "It's _my_ job to protect _you_. It's unacceptable for a member of the royal family to give their life to protect an assassin."

"I hardly think it's appropriate for you to be giving me a lecture on what is and isn't acceptable for royalty, Beruka," Camilla replied. With the wound cleaned and dressed, she started to put her shirt back on with some difficulty, which Beruka was quick to help her with. "And besides, after what you told me when our positions were reversed, it's not exactly fair of you either."

"In what way, milady?"

"You told me that you would lay your life on the line to protect me because I'm important to you, even if I ordered you not to do so." Camilla chuckled, reaching out with her good hand to brush Beruka's hair back over her ear. "And since you're very important to me, too, it's only fair of me to do the same. Like I told you before, it would ruin me to lose you."

"..you're a very strange person, milady," Beruka sighed, straightening out the sleeve of Camilla's shirt for her. "But all the same, you should be more cautious. You have an entire family who would be devastated if they were to lose you. You're the only person who would care if I were to vanish."

"Oh, dear," Camilla sighed, hand cupping Beruka's jaw gently. "Then that simply means I'll have to care all that much more."

 


End file.
